Part of a special on 101 ways to build wealth, readers and experts weigh in with advice that will help you lay a foundation for accumulating wealth.
Focus on what’s most important. In achieving wealth, how you invest isn’t nearly as important as how much you save. Make some time to talk with your partner about when you’ll quit and what you’d like your life to be like. Then, stretch to save the most you can.

Get out of debt. cards are almost never “good” debt. If you’ve got enough cash to cover the balance, use it. If you think you’d be able to pay off your total debt within 15 months, get a 0% card, and bank what you would have paid in interest. Can’t pay your debt in 15 months? Use the tools at creditcards.com/calculators to come up with an aggressive schedule to erase the debt.

Fill up your 401(k). The value of your retirement plan at 65, starting at 40 with $0 and saving 7.1% of $100,000 salary: $614,000. If you saved the max, the value of your plan at 65 and starting at 40 with $0, would be $1,300,000. Those earning higher wages may need to save more than a 401(k) allows. In a Roth IRA, the money is saved after tax, so withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. Folks 50 and up can stash an extra $5,500 in a 401(k) and $1,000 in an IRA per year.

Monitor and keep your savings safe. Get progress reports. This motivates you to keep saving and investing and to keep your expenses to a minimum. Also, make your savings untouchable. Keep a separate savings account that you’re not able to view with your ATM card.

Set goals, but not too many. With too many things to save for, you spend more time weighing priorities and less time taking action.

Are you already saving or scheming to become wealthy? What saving and investment methods do you use? Share your financial secrets with us!

The government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation set to be announced soon. Internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time.

The Home Office says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it. Tory MP David Davis called it “an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people”. Attempts by the last Labour government to take similar steps failed after huge opposition, including from the Tories.

A new law – which may be announced in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech in May – would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or messages without a warrant. But it would enable intelligence officers to identify who an individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long. They would also be able to see which websites someone had visited. In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to “maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes”.

Even if the move is announced in the Queen’s Speech, any new law would still have to make it through Parliament, potentially in the face of opposition in both the Commons and the Lords. The previous Labour government attempted to introduce a central, government-run database of everyone’s phone calls and emails, but eventually dropped the bid after widespread anger.

Chris Huhne, then the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said any legislation requiring communications providers to keep records of contact would need “strong safeguards on access”, and “a careful balance” would have to be struck “between investigative powers and the right to privacy”.